Justice & Mental Health Court

This Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Court for the Sheriff’s Women’s Justice Programs Women, funded by the U.S. Dept. of Justice, is expected to service over 100 women over 2 years.

The women identified for this project are victims of multiple traumas, history of substance use and demonstrate adaptive functioning deficits that impact the life skills needed to function successfully in the community. The profile also suggests that these women are frequent users of the criminal justice system and have been incarcerated multiple times.

Trauma related mental health disorders are chronic and treatable. When left untreated, our data collected by federally funded students, confirm that women will recycle back into the criminal justice system and the cycle begins again.

This project addresses a critical area within the criminal justice and community mental health fields as it will promote the systemic collaboration of multiple branches within the criminal justice and health systems. Partners include the Judiciary through an identified Specialty Court, the States Attorney’s Office, Public Defenders Office, Adult Probation, Cook County Health and Hospital Systems and Northwestern University that will oversee the reentry of women involved in the project.

This project will capitalize on existing Women’s Justice Programs integrated model strategies that include assessment, stabilization and the development of a comprehensive reentry plan. It will allow for a seamless transition and linkage to formalized community mental health treatment and other social services that are critical to successful reentry.